If there’s one area in the house that I want to spend some ME time, it’s in the toilet and bathroom...

If there’s one area in the house that I want to spend some
ME time, it’s in the toilet and bathroom.
And I believe there’s no mom who would want to spend some me-time (shower
or just sit on the throne or even stare at herself in the mirror or talk to
herself in it to find balance) in a dirty area right? No one, I guarantee
that. Cleanliness is of top importance
when it comes to toilet and bath.

That’s why we follow a regular bathroom cleaning schedule. What joy it brings me when I enter the
bathroom sparkling clean and nice-smelling as well, because a clean-looking and
clean-smelling bathroom almost equates to having a safe dwelling place.

Wrong.

I found out during the lunch gathering organized for moms by
Domex, that it’s not enough that tiles in the bathroom and the toilet bowl
looks visibly clean.

If you have kids,
clean is not enough, it has to be a germ-free to avoid bacteria-causing illnesses
such as flu, diarrhea, gut infections, and even eye infections. I remember just this year, when my
preschooler got stomach flu because he touched the toilet bowl and accidentally
put his finger in his mouth. I was
devastated when we had to rush him to the emergency room. He missed classes and I missed office days
too. I don’t want this to happen again,
not to my family and anyone else’s. I
learned my lesson the hard way.

Since then, we use Domex Extra Thick Bleach to thoroughly
clean and disinfect the toilet and bath to ensure that it’s not only clean, but
it’s germ-free. It’s an easy way to
protect my children from getting sick because of these germs. Having a well-sanitized toilet and bath
shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Domex had been active in the One Million Clean Toilets
movement in partnership with Maxicare, Philippine Public Health Association,
and UNICEF to educate 1 million individuals about proper toilet cleaning. I’m proud to be one of them.

In a demonstration done during the event, we were shown that
the clean tile without Domex when subjected under the UV light showed it was
filled with germs!

The toilet demonstration
also showed that Domex Extra Thick Bleach could help in eliminating the
long-staying germs represented by the stains.
Domex is more effective than any other regular bleach brands because it’s
100x thicker!

It definitely cleans better,
reaches hard to clean areas, it lasts up to 7 flushes, and can kill a
wide-range of germs, bacterias, and fungi.
Now that’s a brand I can only trust in caring keeping our toilets clean
and sanitized; a brand which will help me in protecting my kids from illnesses.

Proper sanitation should start at home. In as simple as cleaning the toilet
thoroughly, we keep our children safe and protected from harm. This is the message of Domex to every
household in our country. We should be
fully aware of the sanitation issue and the only way to go is to use Domex
Extra Thick Bleach for our toilets, for the sake of our family’s health and
safety.

Domex Extra Thick Bleach is available in all supermarkets
nationwide for only Php80.00. For more
updates on the movement, follow their story online with the hashtag #1MCleanToilets
and #DomexPH.

I want to share with you how I celebrated my birthday in advance by attending Mommy Mundo's Min...

I want to share with you how I celebrated my birthday in advance by attending Mommy Mundo's Mindful Mom Retreat.

When I got an invitation, I readily said yes because I've been contemplating on doing something meaningful for myself on my birthday. A retreat is always a perfect idea for that solo flight. I need at least half of my day by myself as ME, not as a wife, a mom, a friend, nor a career woman. I need time alone to reflect on where am I right now in my life and where do I want to go. I often ask, what's my life purpose? Am I doing good with the roles that I'm currently juggling? Am I okay? Am I enough? Though I know I'm good, sometimes I need a push and a voice telling me "YES! You're doing great Louise!"

The Mindful Mom Retreat was what I needed at that exact time. It was a morning filled with motivational and inspirational thoughts and realizations about myself as a mom. Being a mom is not as easy as everyone thinks. Only another mom would understand how much we wish we have a clone when caring for the kids, tending the household, working in the office, and even cooking meals. Only another mom would know how much we want to have an extra five minutes of shower and not hear a knock on the door rushing us to come out. Only another mom would understand how tired we get everyday and yet we cannot or do not complain at all, but still wish we could do more. Only another mom would understand that even after doing everything for the family, we still feel guilty for not doing enough. It's an exhausting job and so YES YES YES to a retreat. My body, my mind, and my spirit needs it. You need it too!

The retreat was facilitated by Michele Alignay, a registered psychologist who helped get us back to mindful mommy shape after hearing her talk and share her insights on being a mom. The activities she asked us to do were all intentional in getting to know what fills our day, in identifying life scripts, in getting to know our strengths and weaknesses as moms, in illustrating who we really are as a woman, and lastly drawing our mindful mom plan.

Hearing Ichel talk in front telling us to reboot, recharge, slow down, destress, and care for ourselves was helpful to me in being more intentional. She gave me a much-needed pat on my back and encouraging beliefs to live by while I go on my life as a mom after the retreat.

Here were my main key takeaways:1. Be mindful of what you're busy about everyday. "It's not enough that you are busy, but the question is, "What are we busy about?" Most of the time we equate being a mom to being a superwoman or super-multi-tasker. We tend to become overly busy that we do not find balance anymore. And when there's no balance, of course we tip over and burn out happens. In everything we do, let's ask ourselves, will this contribute to my own well-being? Will this bring happiness to my children? Is this fulfilling? Most of the time, we become busy doing things for our children that we forget to spend quality time with them. We should be mindful in living the now with them than hide in the endless list of chores.

2. Choose the happy train of thought. Looking back at how we were raised when we were younger, it's so much different today. The way how to discipline the children before may not work now. We also hear many things from other moms/parents on how we should go about parenting. Hence, we have unrealistic expectations, misinterpretations, and irrational beliefs which affect our thoughts, attitudes, and emotions. What if we filter everything we hear and CHOOSE only which we think will work best for our kids and our family, we'll be at peace with ourselves with less stress and struggles in making it work at home. "I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become!" - Carl Jung

3. Let go of things that bring you down. Three phrases we should let go from our minds are: What If... If only... Why me... Let's just do what we think we should be doing. If we make a mistake, move on and be better. And if we can do it, let's just do it. It's emotionally and psychologically dragging to be asking ourselves those three phrases. Let go and just do it anyway. 4. Accept your imperfections. Let's face it, no one is perfect. No motherhood method is perfect. We are all beautifully imperfect and hey, that's okay! Accepting our own imperfections will set us free. Knowing that will make us more mindful and tolerant about the imperfections of our family, other people and other circumstances. We have a messy house, piled up laundry, rooms with scattered toys around, unplanned weekly menu, less appealing baon for kids, it's OKAY. I've accepted that I can never be perfect and I love what I have right now, my imperfect family. :)5. Self-Care is important to mindfulness.It is to BE than to DO. It is pausing, reflecting, and being present in the moment. It's not overthinking nor comparing ourselves to others. Self-care is connecting ourselves to the the chosen good influences in our lives. For me, the influences I retain right now are those that bring value to my life and lift me up instead of bring me down. Self-care is being able to declutter our thoughts and minds and being able to say NO if needed. It's pacing tasks, learning how and when to pause, letting go of things we have no control of, and lastly, honoring ourselves.

All these things when we practice intentionally will make us mindful moms. It will make us more loving moms and wives. It will result to clearer thoughts and make us more focused on the goals we have for our families.

Ichel had been helpful in helping me reboot that day. Admittedly, I was late for the session because of the "busyness" of my morning at home, which I realized during the session that I just had been keeping my self unnecessarily busy. There were things to do which I could have left my husband to do for me. But instead, I sort of punish myself for feeling guilty if I had not done it myself. Mali yun. I have to let go of this itchiness to do everything by myself and accept that I can't do everything or else, I'll really be drained before the day ends and I couldn't intentionally live and be and I cannot be mindfully present for my family.

Thanks Ichel for the reminder and for being an inspiration not only to me but to many moms during the session. I'm also fortunate to be one of the first of your audiences during your book launch, "Family Goals".

Thanks to the sponsors of the Mindful Mom Retreat for the goodies as well!

Christmas is just a few weeks away oh my gulay, and family reunions and other gatherings start to fi...

Christmas is just a few weeks away oh my gulay, and family reunions and other gatherings start to fill up my calendar. For pot luck events, apart from my most-requested Spaghetti, we bring Pork Menudo because it's a delicious dish which can be shared by many.

It's also one of my husband's favorite dishes to cook as well and one of my favorite dishes to eat. Now our eldest who's a teenager is beginning to explore other kinds of food beyond soup-based or fried. He's been enjoying my Lutong Nanay dishes and I'm extremely happy about it.

My teenager enjoying his Pork Menudo dish which I cooked

Of course the dish wouldn't be as tasty without the help of Knorr Pork Cubes. I'd like to share with you a simple recipe which is easy to follow when cooking Pork Menudo.

Forgive me for sharing just now my newest guilty pleasure discovery! It's Auntie Anne's Almond Biscoff Bites! If you're a fan of Lotus Biscoff spread, then you'l definitely love the newest offering of Auntie Anne's. The good news is, it's still available for you to savor its honest-to-goodness oh-so-yummy taste. The not so good news is, it's only offered for a limited time. So better hurry and treat yourself to a box of Aunti Anne's Almond Biscoff Bites ASAP! :)

The Auntie Anne's Almond Biscoff Bites for me is best paired with a glass of lemonade!

As a mom of boys who are always active, I make sure I give them the best possible care I could give....

As a mom of boys who are always active, I make sure I give them the best possible care I could give. I make sure their set of clothes and uniforms are complete, their school requirements are met, and their nutritional needs are especially well attended to. From the food they eat at home and in school, their vitamin supplements, and drinks, we make sure everything we provide them will help them have stronger immune system and have healthier tummies too. Hirap kasi if upset or constipated sila, ouch talaga! Everything’s affected.

Kaya when we do our grocery shopping, you will not usually find sodas and chips in our carts. Instead, apart from fruits, breads, and juice, they put in a pack of Dutch Mill Delight. For them, it’s a treat because it’s a delicious drink they could gulp with their snacks anytime. Hindi nila alam, I’m really happy they like it because more than it being a yummy treat, it’s packed with Probiotic and Prebiotic Fiber which make their tummies healthier.

What they liked about Dutch Mill Delight is that it’s bigger in size, not bitin to drink, and
it has a richer milky taste! As parents
we like it because it’s got DUO-ACTIVE
formula to aid in digestion and make their tummies healthy. I could say that it’s an upgrade from what we used to buy in the neighborhood supermarket.

It’s just like instead of getting plastic car toys for them,
we upgrade the choice to die-cast cars so it will last longer and can be used
by younger siblings pa. Or instead of
getting a well-known brand for baby’s diaper bag but small in size, we got a
durable, spacious and quality diaper bag for the same or lower price. It’s an upgrade in the quality of what we
purchase but not an upgrade in cost. For
us, we go for upgrades. Big and More is
better, lalo na if it’s not costly.

Every time we give something to our children, di ba we don’t
want to settle for anything less? Ako as
a practical mom, I always go for getting more than what I pay for. We have the same principle with Dutch Mill
Delight because for the same price, we get more out of it. Prebiotic Fiber in Dutch Mill Delight helps
multiply and strengthen the Probiotic.

We know how fiber works in our tummies right? It just means
you could say goodbye to constipation because of a feel-good bowel movement
each time! With stronger and healthier tummy due to a probiotic drink that has
prebiotic fiber, the good bacteria last longer in the tummies of not only our
kids’ but ours too! Kaya binabaon ko rin naman talaga to sa work!

We have a rule at home which is to set an example by walking
the talk and being a role model. So our
children eat and drink what we do. If we
eat junk, they will too. Kaya we said NO
to junk a long time ago and welcome healthy food and drinks in our
household. That’s why for healthier
tummies for the kids, dun na kami sa 2nd generation of Probiotic
drink, Dutch Mill Delight. Indulge
without guilt, safe to drink every day, and convenient to buy!

Dutch Mill
Delight is available in all leading supermarkets in Metro Manila, Batangas, Bulacan, and
Pampanga, 7-Eleven, and direct sales through Delight Ladies (Manila, Quezon
City, Taguig, and Rizal). Each pack
contains five (5) bottles and is sold for only Php 40.00/pack.

It has been more than a week since our attendance of Luxent Hotel's Plant Vs. Zombies Lawn Of D...

It has been more than a week since our attendance of Luxent Hotel's Plant Vs. Zombies Lawn Of Doom Halloween Party and I still can't get over with it, especially my preschooler. Why? Because Plants Vs. Zombies happens to be one of his favorite games and he likes to portray himself as a zombie. When we told him that we're going to go to a Plants Vs. Zombies themed party, he was shrieking out of joy! So lo and behold, the whole family dressed up for the occasion and YES even our baby Damien.

I remember when a dear friend of mine died because of Dengue a few years ago, it was scary. He was...

I remember when a dear friend of mine died because of Dengue a few years ago, it was scary. He was a young father with two children who at that time were both below 7 years old. It was a devastating family situation which left his wife depressed and unprepared.

Dengue scares me a lot. And now with the Zika virus existing alongside it, I am all the more worried. I don't want my family to experience losing someone because of a simple mosquito bite. So for me, prevention is better than cure.

As a mother of three boys, I do all I can to protect my children from getting Dengue or Zika. Call me paranoid, but I’ve been applying a mosquito repellent on my kids and make it a part of their daily hygiene.

Hello, I'm Louise

Welcome to my blog! I write about my practical life as a mother of two talented and handsome boys, as an ex-single mom and now a happily married woman to my long-time best friend and soulmate, as a full-time career woman in a demanding industry, and as a life adventurer! Welcome to Mommy Practicality!

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